Two Weeks Remain in Regular Season
April 18, 2022
Lehigh Valley, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have an eight-game home point streak (6-0-2) as they enter the last two weeks of the regular season. The Phantoms have a home game against Hershey on Friday in-between away games at Providence and Hershey.
Lehigh Valley (27-30-13) has 6 games remaining in the regular season.
Weekly Recap
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Phantoms 2 – Hershey Bears 1
Maksim Sushko scored the tie-breaking goal with 8:31 remaining after it had initially been disallowed on the ice. The Phantoms overcame a third-period deficit to improve to 6-0 against Hershey at PPL Center. Alex Kile tied the game earlier in the third period as Lehigh Valley finally broke through against Bears’ goalie Pheonix Copley while holding a 38-22 shots advantage in the game.
Friday, April 15, 2022
Bridgeport Islanders 2 – Phantoms 1 (OT)
Austin Czarnik scored the winner for Bridgeport just seconds into overtime. Maksim Sushko had given the Phantoms a 1-0 lead with a goal in his third straight game. Lehigh Valley outshot the Islanders 36-21 but NHL veteran Cory Schneider was strong in net, particularly in a 21-shot barrage in the second period in which he stopped every Phantoms’ effort which included various point-blank chances and breakaways and odd-man rushes.
Sunday, April 16, 2022
Providence Bruins 3 – Phantoms 2 (SO)
Wade Allison’s 10th goal of the season tied the score at 2-2 early in the third period. But his try for a go-ahead goal a few minutes later was waved off due to goaltender interference. The Phantoms had a power play in overtime, their seventh of the game, but the Providence penalty kill hung tough for goaltender Brandon Bussi who won in his pro debut. Cal O’Reilly scored his team-leading 20th goal of the season. Georgii Merkulov led the P-Bruins’ attack with a pair of strong primary assists and the shootout-winning goal in his first-ever pro game.
Upcoming
Tuesday, April 19, 2022 (7:05)
Phantoms at Providence Bruins
Providence (34-20-10) rates third in the Atlantic after some inconsistent play in March and April. Troy Grosenick is the top goalie in the AHL with a 2.02 goals-against average and .931 save percentage along with his 16-5-4 record but has been recalled to Boston. Providence has defeated the Phantoms in a pair of games this past week, both by only one goal. The Phantoms are 1-3-1 against the Bruins. Leading scorer Cameron Hughes (14-31-45) left Monday’s game against the Phantoms with an injury and did not play last weekend. Providence allows just 2.6 goals per game which is best in the conference. The Bruins’ 84.3% penalty kill is second-best in the conference and pushed the team to a shootout win at PPL Center on Saturday holding the Phantoms to 1-for-7 on the power play.
Friday, April 22, 2022 (7:05) (PPL Center)
Phantoms vs. Hershey Bears
Hershey (33-29-10) has slipped to fifth in the Atlantic Division. The Bears get one final chance to pick up a win at PPL Center after going 0-6 so far. The Phantoms are 7-4-1 overall against Hershey entering the opener of the home-and-home series. The Bears have dropped three straight including a 1-0 loss to Brandon Bussi and the Providence Bruins on Sunday. Phantoms’ alum Mike Vecchione leads Hershey in scoring with 16-28-44. Against the Phantoms, Vecchione has scored 4-4-8. Cal O’Reilly has six of his team-leading 20 goals against Hershey including three shorthanded markers. Pat Nagle is 2-0-1, 1.99, .930 against the Bears. Hershey is just 3-for-43 (7.0%) on the power play against Lehigh Valley while the Phantoms have performed at 4-for-38 (10.5%) against the Bears.
Saturday, April 24, 2022 (7:00) (Giant Center)
Phantoms at Hershey Bears
The Phantoms travel to Chocolatetown for the final away game of the regular season. This was originally scheduled to be the last game of the season before an extra week was added to the schedule to provide an opportunity for COVID-postponement makeup dates. Lehigh Valley has already clinched the season-series with a 7-4-1 record against the Bears entering the weekend.
Transactions
Tanner Laczynski, Felix Sandstrom and Egor Zamula were all recalled to the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday, April 13. Sandstrom and Zamula played in their second NHL game of the season while Laczynski played in his first. Laczynski has since returned to Lehigh Valley while Zamula and Sandstrom are back up with the big club.
PHANTASTIC!
– Cal O’Reilly has 533 career assists in the AHL which is tied for 8th all-time with former Philadelphia Phantoms great Peter White who is the all-time leading scorer in franchise history. White had 472 of his points and 319 assists as a member of the Phantoms.
– The Phantoms are on an eight-game home-ice point streak (6-0-2) since March 11.
– The Phantoms now have six players who have reached double digits in goals after Maksim Sushko and Wade Allison both scored their 10th of the year last week. They join Cal O’Reilly (20), Hayden Hodgson (19), Garrett Wilson (16) and Max Willman (10) in the select group.
– The Phantoms are 16-1-1 when scoring four or more goals. The Phantoms are 16-2-3 when leading at the second intermission.
– Five Phantoms players have made their NHL debuts this season: Max Willman, Felix Sandstrom, Linus Sandin, Isaac Ratcliffe, Hayden Hodgson
– The Phantoms have played 70 games and have 6 remaining in the 2021-22 regular season.
Team Scoring Leaders
Cal O’Reilly 20-30-50
Adam Clendening 5-34-39
Garrett Wilson 16-16-32
Hayden Hodgson 19-12-31
x – Egor Zamula 4-25-29
Isaac Ratcliffe 9-13-22
x – Morgan Frost 6-13-19
Wade Allison 10-7-17
Maksim Sushko 10-7-17
Linus Sandin 6-11-17
Wyatte Wylie 4-13-17
Max Willman 10-7-17
Goaltending
Pat Nagle 9-4-5, 2.45, .908
Felix Sandstrom 15-18-4, 2.93, .901
Upcoming Schedule
Tuesday, April 19 (7:05) at Providence Bruins
Friday, April 22 (7:05) vs. Hershey Bears (PPL Center)
Saturday, April 23 (7:00) at Hershey Bears
Tuesday, April 26 (7:05) vs. Springfield Thunderbirds (PPL Center)
Wednesday, April 27 (7:05) vs. Cleveland Monsters (PPL Center)
Saturday, April 30 (7:05) vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (PPL Center) Star Wars Night! Season Finale
Tickets for upcoming Phantoms games are available HERE
Broadcast coverage of all Phantoms games, home and away, is available on the Phantoms 365 app and on 1470-WSAN. Fans can watch on AHLTV.com and can listen on their Smart Speakers at: “Play Phantoms Radio 24/7.” Join Voice of the Phantoms, Bob Rotruck, for all the action!
Service Electric Network again provides exclusive television coverage of all Phantoms home games with veteran announcer Steve Degler and Phantoms’ alum Steven Swavely on the call from the booth. Kristi Fulkerson reports from ice level and also from the Chickie’s and Pete’s studio with Dan Fremuth for pregame, intermission and postgame show analysis.
